A feature analysis of stuttered phonemes

Stuttered and nonstuttered phonemes of 20 adult males were analyzed for distinctive feature patterns using the Chomsky-Halle system. The features (+ consonantal), (- voice), (+ continuant), and (- strident) occured significantly more often in stuttering than in nonstuttering instances. Results suggest that adult stuttering is most likely to occur when the primary sites of tension and discoordination are lingual and laryngeal and when the speaker must shift from (- voice) to (+ voice).     

Stuttering onset after laryngectomy

Two cases of onset of stuttering subsequent to laryngectomy are reported. These patients demonstrate that the existence of a larynx is not necessary for the generation of stuttering. The findings support the hypothesis that neuromotor control of sound source (laryngeal or alaryngeal) plays a critical role in the generation of stuttering-type dysfluencies and, perhaps, even in the onset of stuttering. They also suggest that dramatic alteration in sound source has the potential for dramatically altering fluency.     

Contiguity and contingency in instrumental conditioning

There have been several attempts to construct molar theories of conditioning on the empirical basis that response-reinforcement contingency is important in determining conditioning. Such theories claim to explain behavior in terms of molar level processes which transcend the molecular level and, therefore, are not reducible to molecular processes or their interaction. These molar theories are critically examined and found to be seriously flawed because they fail to account for the effects of delaying reinforcement (degree of contiguity). Observed molar level relations, such as the matching law, do not require a molar theory, but may be more usefully considered as a product of molecular processes.     

Immunization of opioid analgesia: Effects of prior escapable shock on subsequent shock-induced and morphine-induced antinociception

In Experiment 1, it was shown that experience with escapable foot shock 4 hr prior to a session of 80 inescapable tail shocks prevented the occurrence of an analgesic response normally observed immediately following the tail shock. It has been suggested by J. W. Grau, R. L. Hyson, S. F. Maier, J. Madden, and J. D. Barchas (Science, 1981, 213, 1409–1411) that the analgesia that occurs following this number of inescapable tail shocks is mediated by endogenous opioid systems. To further explore the influence of escapable shock on opiate-mediated analgesia, Experiment 2 examined the effects of prior escapable shock on the long-term analgesia reaction that occurs upon brief exposure to shock 20 hr after morphine administration. Rats were given escapable shock, inescapable shock, or no shock 4 hr prior to a morphine injection. Twenty hours following the injection, all subjects received 5 brief foot shocks and were then immediately given tail-flick analgesia tests. Subjects which received inescapable shock or no shock prior to the morphine injection displayed a significant analgesic response. However, subjects which received escapable shock prior to morphine were not analgesic following brief exposure to shock. Thus, escapable shock seems to directly influence the activation of opioid analgesia systems.     

Finger localization and reading ability in three groups of children ages three through twelve

Developmental norms for eight finger-localization (FL) tasks similar to those used by Lindgren are extended to include 140 children ages 3 through 12. The strength of the relationship between these scores and two specific reading tasks is explored. Regression analyses reveal statistically significant correlations between FL ability and the ability to match spoken with printed words, as well as between FL scores and scores for silent reading and retelling of a paragraph. Three groups of children are used: children with normal language, those with dysphasia, and those with language impairments other than dysphasia. Performance scores of these three groups on other language tasks are compared.     

Differential relationships of extraversion,impulsivity, and sociability to study habits

Reanalysis of data on library study habits presented by J. B. Campbell and C. W. Hawley (Journal of Research in Personality, 1982, 16, 139–148) revealed differential utility for the EPI extraversion scale and its components, impulsivity and sociability. Individuals studying in locations that provided greater external stimulation had significantly higher extraversion and impulsivity, but not sociability, scores than individuals studying elsewhere in the library. Impulsivity was more strongly associated than sociability with preferred noise levels, frequency of study breaks, and importance and preferred levels of socializing opportunities, but less strongly associated with preferred levels of crowdedness. Findings are discussed in terms of the interpretation, reliabilities, and theoretical context of the subscales.     

A note on the "word-order problem" in agrammatism

This brief note has two parts. First, it presents an analysis of the ability of English agrammatic patients to assign the thematic roles of agent, instrument, theme, and locative to noun phrases in active and passive sentences and prepositional phrases. Data regarding this ability have been presented by Schwartz, Saffran, and Marin (Brain and Language, 10, 149-262 (1980) regarding comprehension, and by Saffran, Schwartz, and Marin (Brain and Language, 10, 263-280 (1980) regarding production. These authors claim their data show that English agrammatic aphasics do not map "word order" onto thematic information. However, a very simple set of principles accounts for all their results, including results which are discrepant in their treatment, but requires that English agrammatics assign thematic roles to NPs in part by virtue of the position of an NP in a sentence or a phrase. In the second part of this note, several issues raised by this re-analysis are briefly discussed.     

Transfer of a response controlling stimulus duration across discrimination problems

In the acquisition phase, pigeons learned to peck at a changeover key to shorten the duration of S? but not of S+ presented on the food key in a discrimination problem. In the transfer phase, the significance of S+ and S? was changed through extinction of both, equal reinforcement, or discrimination reversal, while the changeover key was not available. Transfer tests then showed appropriate modification of the changeover response. Similar transfer was demonstrated across orthogonal stimulus dimensions. Further analytic studies showed that this transfer of the changeover response did not depend upon mediation due to differential response rates to the food key. This research strategy enriches the study of the “second learning process” by providing an indicator of stimulus control in all phases of the procedure. Direct transfer between different problems also indicates that discriminative stimuli, although physically dissimilar, have the same “psychological value” for the subject.     

An empirical evaluation of a scale to measure occupational aspiration level

Data from 34,118 American high school students are used to evaluate the Occupational Aspiration Scale (OAS). The OAS is successively reevaluated for each of 16 subsamples (cells) generated by cross-classifying respondents by grade in school (9–12), sex, and socioeconomic status (SES). In each cell the OAS is found to be essentially unifactorial, and that factor is identified as level of occupational aspiration (LOA). The reliability of the OAS is slightly lower among females ($\text{r}$_kk = .681) than among males ($\text{r}$_kk = .756); it does not vary appreciably by grade or SES. The mean scores are lower for youth from low SES families than for those from high SES families, in accord with previous research. Mean OAS differences due to sex and grade are small. No important differences by age, sex, or SES are found in the standard deviations of the test scores. This and previously published data from small, local samples indicate that the reliability and validity of the OAS are sufficient for research on high school youth of both sexes and from both higher and lower SES levels.